Emergency preparedness drill to be conducted June 28-29

The St. Lucie County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and St. Lucie County's Public Safety and Communications Department will stage an Emergency Preparedness Training Exercise on Saturday, June 28 and Sunday, June 29, in conjunction with the annual American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day.

Members of the all-volunteer St. Lucie Amateur Radio Service will be honing their emergency communications skills and testing their equipment adjacent to the baseball complex at Indian River State College (South 35th Street) in Fort Pierce. The public is invited to participate in the exercise between 2 and 5 p.m. on Saturday. There is no admission cost.

The actual exercise is conducted over a 24-hour period from 2 p.m. Saturday until 2 p.m. Sunday, but set-up and tear down extend these times to fill most of the weekend. Various modes of communications will be employed, including single-sideband (SSB) Voice, Morse Code, Teletype, and other digital modes to contact other stations all over the country. Additionally, the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), sponsored by Indian River State College's School of Public Safety Training, will participate in the exercise.

The American Radio Relay League Field Day event is open to both expert and novice amateur radio operators. While the Field Day is focused on setting up temporary portable stations running on emergency power, stay-at-home and mobile units also are allowed to participate.

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